Venom and Chocolate
by Digital Skitty
Summary: Canines are a bit too loyal sometimes, and mothers are a bit too protective. A boy is caught in the middle of the two conflicting characteristics.


Another Skitty original here. And y'all know what that means. More angst, suicide, murder, love and what ever else creeps into my twisted mind.

And I enjoy random, nameless main characters. It works for me, although in this one someone had a name…

* * *

He wondered why chocolate was poisonous to the canines of the pokemon world. Why it was deadly. Why they were laying here, dying, because of it.

The boy was like any other. He started his training journey when he was ten, receiving a Growlithe as his first pokemon. He eventually earned some badges, caught a few more pokemon, and made some new friends. None of them traveled with him, since he liked to travel on his own, with only his pokemon as companions.

He was normal. Average. Ordinary. He liked pizza, he hated broccoli, he liked traveling with his pokemon and he hated the Rockets and all they stood for. Of course, he had never met one in person, but he heard about them in the news enough.

After receiving his third badge, the boy realized that he didn't need any other pokemon on his team. Just his faithful Growlithe. He was more than a match for most gym leaders, because he was still a puppy and thus growing at an extraordinary rate. They were waiting until they had won another gym badge to make him evolve with the Fire Stone they bought at the last town.

Life was good. He'd play with his beloved Growlithe, christened Furame. They were the best of friends.

The boy's loyal Growlithe won him another badge, and he evolved. Now the little puppy was a majestic canine the size of large Ponyta. The trainer admired his pokemon's sleek auburn fur, the ebony markings, the cream colored tufts of fur that decorated his coat.

They continued on their journey more leisurely, since they now had basically nothing to fear. Wild pokemon ran from the sound of Furame's mighty howl, trainers thought twice about battling such a powerful Arcanine, and those few wild pokemon who dared come near were quickly knocked out by a beautiful display of flames.

It was a normal day. Everything was normal for them, it seemed. Furame was toying with a particularly quick Beedrill that was bent on protecting its hive, although it was nearly on the other side of the forest. The Beedrill barely managed to dodge the Arcanine's latest flaming assault, but was hit by the reflexive attack when Furame turned back. The Beedrill barely managed to stay conscious as he discovered the boy. The bug buzzed over, attacking instead. Furame shot it down with a quick Flamethrower, but not before the Beedrill stung his trainer.

And that was how they found out that the boy was allergic to the Beedrill's poison.

He was rushed to a hospital, and was treated for the poison. The young trainer recovered fully, but it had made the pair learn to be more cautious.

They eventually had to go back through that forest, ignorant of the fact that the Beedrill had formed a new alliance with a few other species. Luckily, the Arcanine's powerful fire attacks kept the Beedrill, Scyther and the occasional Butterfree at bay. The two of them had made it through the bug-infested forest safely.

Life returned to normal. The two won another badge, and their confidence levels were back to normal. Actually, if anything, it was even higher. Luckily, arrogance was not a problem for the two.

To get to the next town, and the next badge, the two would have to travel through a cave. It wasn't a problem, since they had traveled through one earlier in their training career, but this time the tunnel was much longer.

The cavern's ceiling was high above their heads, occasionally dotted with clumps of Zubat or Golbat. They heard the near-silent drone of a colony of Diglett somewhere deeper into the tunnel, and they caught a few Sandshrew or Geodude glancing at them behind rocks and stalagmites. They didn't seem to keen on challenging Furame.

The boy struck up some abstract tune in a whistle. Furame tried to help the song along by adding in a quiet howl now and then. The Diglett's constant droning provided the beat. The wild pokemon who were hearing this seemed perplexed, but the tune was catching quickly. A Zubat would squeak in time, while a Geodude's deep voice provided a harmonic undertone. Pretty soon, the two of them had the whole tunnel singing, humming, howling, growling, squeaking and dancing along with their tune.

Except for a mother Arbok and her baby. Snakes were deaf, so they couldn't hear a thing. Most of the captured ones communicate by sensing their trainers voice's sound waves in the air. So, although they couldn't hear the symphony around them, they sensed the vibrations of the song dancing all around them. It annoyed the mother, since her precious baby was trying to sleep. The small Ekans wiggled uncomfortably in his sleep, his face twisted in irritation. For a sleeping one, these vibrations were not helping his nap continue.

With an irritated hiss, the mother slithered silently away to try and rid her son of the annoyances disturbing his sleep.

One of the Zubat struck a particularly high note with a screech. Furame winced thanks to his extra sensitive ears, making his trainer laugh sympathetically.

* * *

Everything happened too quickly. But that's how life goes by. Much too quickly.

The mother had found Furame and his trainer without a problem. She engaged the majestic canine in battle, holding her ground for longer than any other wild pokemon they had ever met did. She was actually a match for the Arcanine. The trainer seemed almost surprised. This Arbok must be fighting for something.

But the second Furame blinded her temporarily with a Flamethrower, it all went downhill. Instead of using her sight, she was now relying on those extrasensory heat detectors to sense where everything was. The pair was just large, red blobs surrounded by a faint glow of orange in her new sight. The only problem was that the only way to tell them apart, since this new way to see didn't differentiate between sizes, was that one had a slightly brighter glow. She took that one to be Furame, thanks to his inner fire, but she'd have to concentrate to tell them apart.

She lunged at the brighter glow with jaws agape. She felt flesh meet her poisonous fangs, so she sank them in, hoping that her poison would win the battle for her. The last thing she remembered thinking was that her poor son would grow up motherless as she heard an anguished howl to her right and she passed on from a well-aimed Flamethrower.

Furame stood over the body of the Arbok and his trainer, who was shoving the burnt body away from him and holding his side where the fangs pierced him. His Arcanine nuzzled his trainer gently, as if sorry for letting him get into that situation in the first place. His trainer quietly told him that it was okay. It wasn't anyone's fault, just because she made a mistake. He cocked his head curiously, how she could've mixed them up. The boy explained to him that she didn't know that his body heat was cooler because of the fur around him, so she took the hotter body to be his since he was of the fire element.

Furame looked on helplessly as his trainer collapsed, panting heavily. The poison was taking its toll.

The Arcanine noted with irony how this predicament clashed with one of his memories. An Arbok's poison is merely a trifle to him, yet it is deadly to humans, much like chocolate is to them. They eat it without care, but many canines and felines die yearly from the accursed stuff.

Furame gently turned his trainer onto his side, trying not to disrupt his already shallow breathing. He gently took off his backpack, digging around until he found the stuff. He laid down beside his trainer, pressing up against his side to share his warmth and silky fur. His trainer shook his head stubbornly the second he saw the bar of chocolate in his pokemon's mouth. Furame grimaced, chomping down onto the candy bar. He swallowed it, making a face as the sickly sweet stuff slid down his throat in a melting glob.

His trainer's body went limp, but he still felt the slow rise and fall of his chest beside him. The paralysis was already set in. Soon it would paralyze his lungs and heart, as well as the acid slowly eating away at his body at the moment. It was much like the chocolate now contaminating his stomach. The Arcanine set his head on his paws, leaning closer to his trainer loyally. He closed his eyes, feeling his stomach reject the chocolate and shove it elsewhere. It was clogging his lower throat now, jamming itself just below his windpipe. It was melting and being absorbed into his bloodstream, he mused.

Reopening his crimson eyes, he glanced over at the Arbok's body. He felt just the slightest twinge of regret for her offspring, who would probably die without a parent's protection and guidance. But that was not his problem. Nothing would ever trouble him or his beloved trainer anymore.

The boy noticed with his last fading wisps of brainpower that their breathing was now matched perfectly. And it was steadily slowing at the same exact rate.

Inhale…

Exhale…

Inhale…

Exhale…

…

Inhale…

…

Exhale…

…

Inhale…

…

Exhale…

…

…Inhale…

…

…Exhale…

…

They both closed their eyes. They were both listening to the steady metronome of their breathing, the beat of the last few notes of the tune they had called their lives.

…

…Inhale…

…

…Exhale…

…

Their hearts beat as one, just as their breaths were.

One beat.

…

Another.

…Inhale…

A heartbeat.

…

…Exhale…

…

Another beat.

…

…Inhale…

…

Another beat.

…

…Exhale…

…

And then, there was no more.


End file.
